Pens start slow...then score 7 straight for first win

The Pens unveiled new lines: Lemieux played with Sidney Crosby and Mark Recchi, Rico Fata was between Malone and Ziggy Palffy, Lasse Pirjeta centered John LeClair and Konstantin Koltsov and Maxime Talbot was with Matt Murley and Ryan VandenBussche.

Gonchar, 2 goals, had his best game as a Penguin.

But it was Mario who lit the spark, after spotting the Atlanta a 4-0 lead the Pens stormed back with 7 then held on to win 7-5 in front of Sebastian Caron.

Lost in the "euphoria" of beating one of the worst defensive teams in the league is the fact that Tarnstrom injured his MCL and is out probably 2 months.

As he walked off the ice, Edzo let out a deep breath like a man given a stay of execution by a judge.

The Pens stil have plenty of problems, but at least on this night they lose the moniker of the only team in the NHL without a victory.

Doh! for 9

This was the first Pens game I've got to watch for a while. I got to see another frustrating overtime loss that the Pens should have won. They outshot the Panthers 41-34, had a 12-7 power play advantage and the lead with less than 6 minutes to play.

However they gave up two goals in the first that were plain and simple bad goals. The first one caused by a Melichar misplay. The second that Thibault lost in his pads and eventually kicked in himself.

Then late in the third they took two penalties resulting in Fla goals, one a dubious interferece calls on Mario at the end of regulation, giving the Panters a 4 on 3 powerplay in OT.

Lost in the defeat was a phenominal performance by Crosby who personally drew 6 of the 12 FLA penalties with his aggressive drives to the net.

Goals were scored by Malone (assisted by Crosby), Lasse and Dicky T. It's a shame the Pens can't capitalize on #87's great play with a win.

As Stephen Weiss' slap shot banged past Thibault 53 seconds into overtime, the crowd loudly booed.

Pens have several days to right ship

The Pens, still winless this season, have had since Saturday to improve their schemes for Thursday's game against the Devils. The team has mainly suffered from poor play in their own end, as evidenced by the previous post about minus numbers. Coach Edzo has taken the blame upon himself and said he needs to do a better job.

Jocelyn Thibault was recalled from injured reserve in the past day and MA Fleury was sent down to Wilkes-Barre to make room. Edzo said that T-Bo looks looks more confident now than in training camp. He is probably worried about losing his job to Caron or Fleury seeing as he was pedestrian in the only game he played. He is fixing to be between the pipes for Thursdays game in a rematch against the Devils.

Sidney Crosby leads all NHL rookies in scoring with 9 points in 6 games. I don't think he's hit his stride yet. As he continues to get more comfortable I think he will start scoring more goals. Right now he only has two. There is a big difference in how to beat a junior goalie and a NHL goalie, but I'm sure big-boys on the team like Mario and Recchi will learn him. I actually think if he finds his goal-scoring touch soon he could lead the entire NHL in scoring in his rookie year, which would be incredible. I don't even think Gretzky did that.

Scoring per game is up by 2 goals since last season! The games are so much more exciting and the players seem to be having more fun. The way things look now we are going to see many 100 point scorers this year. We may even see one or two guys get 60 goals (Jagr, Naslund).

Defenseless...

Rather than post a summary of the game last night (Pens lose to Tampa 3-1), I thought I'd just post the season to date +/- numbers for the Pens defensemen and let you draw your own conclusion:

Poapst +2
Odelinein -1
Dicky T -2
Ric Jackman -2
Joe Melichar -3
Brooks Orpik -3
Bob Scuderi -4
Sergei Gonchar -6

Gonchar was horrible again last night and had a turn over in the Pens zone that directly lead to a goal.

Not sure what Edzo is gonna do at this point but the pre-season excitement of winning the Crosby lottery is quickly waning as the Pens go winless game after game.

No Cigar...

In a classic addition to the Pens vs Flyers rivalry, the Pens spot Philly a 5-1 lead then battle back to tie the game with the help of a goal and an assist by Crosby, a fluke goal off a face off from Maxime Talbot and a couragous perfomance in relief from Sebastion Caron.

They weren't, however able to overcome a two man disadvantage and two broken sticks in the OT period and walk away with their 4rth consecutive OT loss.

The negatives:

- Slow start
- Penalties
- Everyone on Defense except Caron

The positives:

- Crosby is the real deal
- 4 Consecutive OTs means they are close
- The Pens have yet to win a game yet they are tied for second in the Atlantic division.

Caron should be the #1 Goaltender

Details

MAF Called Up

Penguins call Marc Andre Fleury from WBS to take the place of Jocelyn Thibault who has a badly bruised knee. (Probably got it from all that flopping on the ice.)

Shootout shutout

On paper, any three of the Penguins top 6 should be able to beat any 3 of the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout. Unfortunately they don't play the games on paper.

When Ziggy Palffy's deflection of a pinpoint Sidney Crosby pass tied the score at 2-2 with 1:29 to play and then both teams failed to score in OT, I felt sure that the better offensive talent of the Pens would prevail. But young Cam Ward stopped Mario, Palffy and Crosby and Caron failed to stop Cory Stillman, the Pens fell to the Canes 3-2 in OT.

The Pens were a little more solid on D w/ Caron in Net. Orpik got the healthy scratch, but Scuderi and the human backboard Melinchar (another opposing team goal came off of Melinchar last night) got to play.

Crosby showed why he's been so heralded with his skating and playmaking, but this team obviously needs to develop some chemistry. The first line in particular seems out of synch. Ryan Malone was often camped out in front of the net waiting for passes from his linemates that never came.

Hopefully the home crowd will give the Pens a jumpstart of energy that they seem to be lacking since the first ten minutes of game 1.

Welcome Back...to Frustration

All through the pre-season, I was concerned by what appeared to be a lack of quality defensive defensemen for the Pens. For tonight, at least those fears were realized. But first the good stuff:

The NHL is Back!! As I settled in to watch the game on NHL Center Ice I was excited to see the new star laden Pens in their first real game in 18 months. I was excited to see phenom Sidney Crosby, I was excited to see the great Mario Lemieux hit the ice with a legitimate chance to contend.

And for the first half of period 1 the anticipation was rewarded. The Pens immediately attacked the Devil's zone. The larger offensive zone and the new offsides and icing rules made for a much more exciting game. During that period the Pens outshot the Devils 12-2.

Sidney Crosby hit the ice w/ LeClair and Recchi and on his first shift he made an awesome move to the net and had a great backhand shot attempt that was stopped by Brodeur.

The refs called the game extremely tight. And the Pens were rewarded early with two separate 5-3 power-plays in the first period. Unfortunately, new offense friendly rules aside, the Pens ran into a great hall of fame goaltender. And he almost singlehandedly shut down the Penguins early attack. As the time on the second 5-3 power-play ticked away, the Penguins momentum disappeared for the rest of the game.

Late in the first period McGillis skated into the Penguins zone and shot a slapper which Thibault went down to block. He failed to control the rebound and Scuderi missed the play on the puck. Brylin picked up the rebound and shot it by Thibault.

The second Devils goal was similar. Orpik was called for a questionable interference call and Zach Parese scored on a long rebound that Melichar had a play on and failed to control. Ryan Malone had a great opportunity at the end of the period but was robbed by Brodeur who made about 8 great saves in the first period.

Early in the second Gionta poke checked the puck into his zone and banged home his own rebound on a breakaway as Scuderi failed to get back. Brodeur continued to stand on his head and frustrated the Pens.

In the third period, the game was over for the Pens when a weak shot by Gionta trickled behind Thibault as Scuderi clumsily waved at it with his stick.

The lone bright spot for the Pens came in the 3rd when Crosby hit Recchi in front of the net for the one power-play goal they were able to muster in 11 tries. Crosby picked up his first NHL point on the assist. Sidney played well and will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Brodeur was just too good on this night.

Brylin scored his second goal of the game late in the 3rd and the rest of the game was garbage time. As Crosby finished his final shift the NJ fans chanted "Over-Rated" in unison.

Pens Enter Regular Season w/ a Bang ...beat Caps 7-1

Mario had a goal and three assists against an admittedly diluted Washington lineup to end the preseason with a 7-1 win.

Ziggy and Mario seem to be developing some chemistry.

Bring on the Devils!

The other Number 1 pick has a breakout game

In a game where the Pens didn't dress any of their top players, the Caps rookie and 2004 #1 pick Alexander Ovechkin, had a hat trick and an assist and even scored in the faux shootout to defeat the Pens 4-3.

The Pens got goals from Christensen, Ouellet and Lasse Pirjeta.

Details here